Complete three-dimensional structure of Bi-adsorbed Si(110) surface: Discovery of heavily reconstructed Si(110) substrate

Silicon is one of the most well-studied crystals in terms of surface structure. In particular, the three low Miller index surfaces—(100), (110), and (111)—which are located at the three apexes of the triangle of the irreducible orientation of the cubic crystal, are the most fundamental and have been...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hiroaki Aoyama, Tadashi Abukawa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2021-12-01
Series:Physical Review Research
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.043164
Description
Summary:Silicon is one of the most well-studied crystals in terms of surface structure. In particular, the three low Miller index surfaces—(100), (110), and (111)—which are located at the three apexes of the triangle of the irreducible orientation of the cubic crystal, are the most fundamental and have been extensively studied. However, the surface structure on Si(110) substrates is not as well understood as on other substrates. Here, we have investigated a surface structure induced by submonolayer Bi deposition on Si(110). The complete atomic arrangement from the surface to the fifth layer was directly determined by solving the Patterson function, which was obtained using a very large number of electron diffraction patterns. In contrast to the case of the Si(111) substrate, the Si(110) substrate showed significant reconstructions under a Bi overlayer. The obtained structure shows how dangling bonds can be reduced at the Si(110) substrate. The present result proves the high capability of the surface structure determination of the present method.
ISSN:2643-1564